Professor H Russel Botman is the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University (SU). At a national level, he is director and an executive member of HESA (Higher Education South Africa), and further served the higher education sector as chair of the Higher Education Quality Committee’s audit of the University of the Witwatersrand. At a continental level, he is vice-president of the Association for African Universities (AAU), as well as a member of the international board of trustees of AIMS (the African Institute for Mathematics and Science).

Professor Botman was born in Bloemfontein and received his secondary education in Kliptown, Johannesburg. He obtained a BA, MTh (cum laude) as well as a doctorate in Theology from the University of the Western Cape. This was also where he honed his leadership skills as a member of the Student Representative Council in 1976. As minister in the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in Wynberg, Cape Town, he made his mark as church leader as well as champion for socio-economic rights.

Professor Botman believes that science should drive Africa’s development. His academic leadership has led to the establishment of the innovative First-year Academy at SU as well as the visionary HOPE Project as vehicle for the University’s transformation and positioning for the 21st century. Thanks to the latter, more than R800 million was invested in SU’s academic activities between 2007 and 2010.

Professor Botman was awarded an award for excellence in academic leadership by the Turkish Turquoise Harmony Institute. He also received honorary membership from Golden Key International, the world’s largest academic honour society, thereby joining the global community of academic achievers. In addition, he serves as honorary member of the United Nations Association of South Africa in recognition of his commitment to the Millennium Development Goals.

As theologian, he was the founding director of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology in SU’s Theology Faculty, and served as president of both the South African Council of Churches and the Southern Africa Alliance of Reformed Churches. He has published internationally and has been recognised as research fellow and scholar by the well-known Centre of Theological Inquiry in Princeton as well as the Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta. He was awarded the international Abraham Kuyper Award for Excellence in Theology and the Public Life, and the American Bethel University’s prize for “remarkable accomplishments in education, theology, social justice and reconciliation”.

He remains active in the areas of culture and business as well. He serves on the board of Media24, Africa’s largest media company, is a patron of SU’s Word Fest (“Woordfees”), and is a former chairperson of the Klein Karoo National Festival of the Arts (“KKNK”). For his contribution to the development of South African arts, he received Eden District Municipality’s George Lily award in 2007.

Professor Botman is a recognised community leader. He serves as chairperson of the Church Development and Dialogue Community Trust, which is driving a large-scale project in the poorest communities of South Africa on behalf of the Global Fund. In 2009, he led a delegation of Constitutional Court judges, church leaders, academics and other civil society leaders to a first consultation with peers from China, the Netherlands and Turkey on the issue of global peace and security. In 1989, his contribution to justice and human dignity was recognised by a special prize from the city council of Milwaukee, America. Back home, he also received an honorary certificate from the Western Cape Provincial Council of Churches for his commitment to ecumenism and the poor in 1994.